One notable aspect of Korea’s corporate landscape is the meager presence of intermediate-sized companies ― businesses that are larger than small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but smaller than large corporations. According to a recent report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, midsized businesses accounted for a mere 0.04 percent or 1,291 of the nation’s 3.12 million enterprises in 2010. The share is much smaller compared with other countries, including Germany (11.8 percent), Swede

Lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts have shown that all the talk in political circles about a new politics was nothing more than lip service.According to reports, they handled the 2013 budget bill in the same old and lousy way as before. They did not make even a modicum of effort to cast away old practices and establish new ones.In the first place, they turned the process of deliberating on the budget proposal into a series of back-door deals on allocati

Last month’s presidential election highlighted a growing generational divide as well as deep-rooted ideological and regional rivalries in the country. President-elect Park Geun-hye, a conservative, garnered support from more than two-thirds of voters aged 50 or older. But she saw her liberal rival, Moon Jae-in, secure about the same proportion of ballots cast by voters in their 20s and 30s, according to estimates based on exit polls.The election outcome has deepened the sense of frustration amon

Under a related law, the National Assembly is obliged to pass the state budget bill by Dec. 2 to allow 30 days of preparation for its implementation. Held hostage to partisan wrangling, however, the parliament has failed to meet that deadline since 2002.Lawmakers set a new record, not passing the budget bill until hours after the beginning of the fiscal year when they approved the expenditure plan for 2013 early Tuesday morning. This time, it was a tug of war between the rival parties over how t

Many will now have to grapple with a harsh reality as the New Year euphoria recedes. They include college seniors who, set to graduate next month, have yet to land jobs, and urban tenants, many of whom will find that their rent has risen beyond their means when they renegotiate their contracts ahead of the spring moving season.According to an estimate by President Lee Myung-bak’s administration, the number of new job openings will decline from 440,000 last year to 320,000 this year. College stud

In his New Year’s message on Tuesday, North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un, called for the resolution of inter-Korean confrontation and vowed to turn his communist state into an economic powerhouse. But his message failed to impress South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s administration, which said Kim offered no fresh ideas on improving inter-Korean relations.As is often the case with North Korea’s public announcements, however, the omissions, rather than content, in Kim’s message drew keen a

President-elect Park Geun-hye is grappling with a task that has been blown out of proportion in terms of importance ― appointing members of the presidential transition team. By now she should have started to receive briefings from members of the transition committee on the conduct of the affairs of the central government. Yet she is still not ready to unveil the full lineup. On New Year’s Eve, Kim Yong-joon, the former Constitutional Court chief who was named to lead the transition team, said hi

Lawmakers have begun to drop tax bombs to bankroll the welfare pledges of President-elect Park Geun-hye. They passed the budget bill for 2013 early Tuesday morning together with a set of measures aimed at increasing tax revenue.This year’s budget was finally set at 342 trillion won, down 500 billion won from the administration’s original proposal submitted last September. Nevertheless, legislators approved bills that would increase the tax burden on rich people as shortfalls are expected in tax

Reconciliation and happiness are set to be the two most often heard words in Korean society this year. And it is certain that President-elect Park Geun-hye will frequently mention the words, which she has resolved to turn into reality for all her compatriots, many of whom turned to the notion of healing last year amid increasing hardships.Park, from the conservative ruling Saenuri Party, pledged on the campaign trail to unite the nation beyond ideological, regional and generational lines and bri

Few Koreans would say that 2012, during which economic hardship never lost its grip, was a great year for them. But it might not necessarily have been a terrible year for them, either.Looking back on the past year, many Koreans will likely view it as a rather challenging period, which highlighted difficulties facing the nation but also galvanized its move toward overcoming them. What we should now be reminded of is that challenges, if met with the proper response, can give us lessons and opportu

President-elect Park Geun-hye has begun forming her transition committee, whose work many observers note will hold a key to the success of her five-year term, with Thursday’s appointments of its head and deputy chief. Her concrete ideas on the function and structure of the committee will be made clearer when she reveals the names of other members in the days to come. Park still gave a noticeable indication of how the transition team will be formed and operated through the first batch of her sele

The National Assembly, which failed to meet the Dec. 2 constitutional deadline for passing the administration’s 2013 budget bill, has recently rescheduled a vote on the bill for Friday.However, the ruling Saenuri Party, which has the National Assembly under its control, will still find it difficult to pass the bill on Friday in the face of strong resistance from the main opposition Democratic United Party. The key stumbling block is the ruling party’s demand to increase the 2013 spending by 6 tr

President-elect Park Geun-hye was right when she said no unqualified person should be awarded with a top post of government-owned corporations or government-funded organizations just because he contributed greatly to the election of a new president. Such an appointment, she said, is a burden on not just the incumbent administration but its immediate successor.But no one should be blamed if he turned skeptical, upon hearing her remarks, that she would put an end to an age-old practice of a new pr

The problem of affluent self-employed people free riding on the national health insurance system is well known. To avoid paying contributions commensurate with their large personal wealth, these people manage to put their names on company payrolls and register themselves as employees, whose contributions are computed solely based on their monthly wages.To curb these practices, the National Health Insurance Corp. has begun to levy extra contributions on employees with income other than their mont

Expanding welfare spending without impairing fiscal soundness is a feat the ruling Saenuri Party is required to perform to carry out the election pledges of President-elect Park Geun-hye.The easiest way to achieve the feat is to increase tax revenue by raising tax rates or creating new taxes. But Park has ruled out this facile option. During the campaign period, Park said she would not tinker with tax rates.Instead, she said she would cover 60 percent of her welfare bill by adjusting the governm